Bonded Summoner-Chapter 34Book 8. : The War Continues

The family had relaxed for the better part of a day, and Fhesiah had only taken a few hours off from working on the tokens before she got back to it. Many reports and voices started coming in, and she had recordings being made.

She continued to weave the tokens together in the new Hearthtribe HQ on The Burning Steps, situated on the Fire Continent. Jake, Blood, and Nessa met in the conference room to go over their guild’s next steps, after receiving Valtor’s reports of Hearthtribe’s landings across the Sector.

With over a hundred tokens integrated into a giant ball of wooden threads, and what appeared to be the sort of master-level tokens from Avaron and Cassius, new reports of betrayals were coming in from much of the Sector.

Fhesiah had even received a few reports in the Third Tier, which they were subsequently happy to supply Tyr as they went–he assured them they would be handled with the gravity and secrecy they required. And without giving the game away to those using them.

Jake had already dropped off Sati at the Fire Grand Temple, using Ira as a Reverse Summon target. She was working with them to teach them the ways of the Dharma and Yoga to help improve themselves, and hopefully converting them to Hearthtribe and their overall side while she was at it.

Ophelia and Tanda were both trying out the new skill books Hestia gave them while the rest of them met here and strategized. The rest just sought to recover and train, or absorb their special gift from Hestia, as they prepared for rejoining Conquest shortly.

Nessa sat on Jake’s lap happily, her long tail wrapped around his waist and trailing down his leg, with Bloodberri perched on her tail opposite of him across the table. The holographic table allowed them to bring up various figures, and plan out their strategies.

Fhesiah was floating in the corner of the conference room with the numerous tokens floating around her, the central token looking almost like a ball of wooden yarn at this point. “I’ve gained some quite valuable reports, Husband. Some, you might find quite interesting.”

She played the recording, a man’s alarmed voice coming from a device that looked oddly like a tape recorder. “We need reinforcements! Norvik didn’t fall, and Hearthtribe is making headway. If it continues like this, they will recover and claim the world!”

In the recording, Fhesiah cleared her throat, and then did a…pretty good Cassius impression. “I gave you enough resources, maggot! Just continue with the plan, and make it work with what you have until I can get there. You know the cost of failure.”

The voice sounded exhausted. “Please, we require help! It’s not working–it won’t work. The little bark people they came with–they have taken control of most of the stone termites for themselves. Then, it didn’t matter that we broke the wards and salted the earth; the walls crumbling was no problem for those treants, digging their roots deep underground. We could continue with ten times the people in the same way, and it wouldn’t work. We need help from the Patron if we’re to complete our task, or for you to get here immediately.”

Fhesiah ended the recording. “I tried to get him to talk more about the Patron or their plans on Bramvalen after that, but he stopped answering me. I have a few more recordings like this. Most importantly, there are a couple from the betrayers on Morvalis–but it seems their work with the Obsidian Blades was mostly minor coordination–asking for help in avoiding The Alliance sweeps searching for them.”

Jake asked, “How could those on Bramvalen sabotage in this way? Wouldn’t the Framework stop them?”

Nessa replied, “This man Faye spoke with must not be a member of the Framework, or they are just following orders for a removal of intent. The ones under the Framework are not intentionally helping the enemy; they are merely accomplishing the task they are given. Digging a hole under a wall or salting the earth is…malicious, but one can invent a reason to do this that isn’t sabotage. The Framework largely prevents enemies through their intent.”

Jake arched his brow at that. “That seems dubious at best, but I get it. Is there a way we can prevent that?”

Nessa nodded. “There are a few. The biggest one involves investment. By creating or upgrading Framework defenses with CP, it becomes impossible for Framework members to sabotage, even using this method. And often, it becomes immune to sabotage altogether, as most Framework defenses have self-healing and gamelike repair options, as well as reporting–some native guy digging a hole underneath would raise an alarm.”

Jake remembered the Battleground, and the Outpost within the dungeon and how they could repair it by channeling mana or funneling resources into it. “But they can have holes or flaws, if the investment is not good enough–such as those enemies that dug underneath, to appear in the center of the keep. I see. So this was why Valtor and Amara had me working on those runes for defenses. I even made some blueprints for some barriers powered by mana, Qi, and auril.”

Blood nodded. “That’s right. This has been Hearthtribe's most recent investments–we had a plan and blueprints from our grace period, but not enough CP to implement it until now, as we had focused on the interplanetary network. The issue was that these blueprints are expensive, and so was deploying the structures. They also provide additional incentive for our enemy to conquer the areas we’ve reinforced. So we need to be conscious about every step of the selection. The level of security, the cost to deploy, to man and defend, and more. But yes, now that we have earned plenty of points from our enemies and our Second Tier Conquest, we have a few options to improve defenses on these worlds, even as we try to rescue them.”

Nessa cleared her throat. “This was what much of my work in Love and Justice was–planning for these sorts of things. The more you develop the blueprint on your own and the more you build up the physical structure of the target location to match the blueprint, the cheaper it is to create it and deploy it. This is also why a monolithic single Origin build is the most common, and many have built cultures around keeping things this way.”

Jake arched his brow. “A monolithic what now?”

Nessa giggled, and squeezed him tight with her tail. “A single Origin–a single magic type, set of races, culture, Divine, etcetera. The Greeks, the Nords, the Celts, and so on. If you only have one, you only require one blueprint, and one set of magical technology to research and deploy. And when you arrive at a location or world with a set of forces, their manpower towards implementing the blueprint can be more effective. Think if your fortress design used mana–would the Highlands Beastkin or our cultivators be able to deploy and defend it effectively?”

Jake chuckled, and nodded in understanding. They had eventually added some Framework-enhanced defenses at their HQ points and major cities on Highlands, and the fact that they had developed and built up the physical structure first made it cheaper.

“So this is what you were talking about. It certainly wouldn’t change who we recruit for our guild, so it wasn’t worth giving it much thought. We’ve had to go with a hybrid approach for this reason, and in the end, I think it offers more benefits than downsides. Because our understanding of all magic feeds into one another, and some synergize well with different materials. Then, we also go for the best teams and people that fit our culture, rather than only one magic or Origin. We don’t limit ourselves like many other guilds do.”

Nessa smiled. “That’s what I was starting to notice as well, with Love and Justice. We mixed the Nords and the cultivators quite well, getting all sorts of benefits and advantages from their knowledge. When we married and I joined your noble family, I brought many of my blueprints to Hearthtribe. Though…a lot of our initial advancements were thanks to things Fhesiah had showed me and inspired me with, when we did our tournament. I had learned a lot of theory in the Core Territories, but most of the recommendation is to remain monolithic.”

Blood smiled. “And you changed from that, because you saw how well Milord and his guild were doing. So now, we have all these forces on multiple worlds, and we’ve received much more reliable information about the threats that we are facing, and the current situation. How should we move?”

Jake triggered the table, bringing up the world of Bramvalen. Several statistics surrounded the Conquest Map, detailing their forces and information Valtor had included, such as their current forces and the set of reinforcements heading to the world.

Overall, it didn’t look good, with various cities that had fallen and Rifts open all across the map.

“Let’s talk about Bramvalen first. This was the world that was nearing the point of no return, spiraling toward its collapse. Our people have landed and already reinforced cities under siege and closed numerous Rifts, but there are so many others. It’s a danger to even leave the crumbling cities to close Rifts, because Rift spawns are roaming and converging toward their targets, as so many have been open for too long. Boss enemies and their spawns are everywhere, and there is even a Fortress Assault and a Greater Rift that need closing.”

Highlands had truly been unique, in that the landscape had slowed the enemy down significantly. In both commandeering monsters and bringing Boss monsters that could traverse the terrain, the design had limited Tartarus quite significantly.

Nessa looked over to the conquest meter–it was at 36% now, even after their forces arrived and ended the siege. “It’s nearly at the point where many Alliance guilds and lone adventurers would abandon the world to its fate–dangerous to move and easy to be killed thanks to Tartarus machinations. The three HQs the world has weren’t even targeted directly, and through the recordings and Yiming’s investigations, we understand why. It was a systemic weakening of their defenses, allowing cities to fall much faster than predicted. A cooperation with the enemy.”

Blood said, “I think there’s really only one choice. We defend until we can get defenses built. Most guilds wouldn’t invest their points and resources on a Contested World at all until they were sure they would win it, let alone one they thought the world was going to fall. Often, it’s those with shared Origins and those led by the Divine who invest before then, going all in. In this case, the world has a mixed Origin, and it seems none wanted to claim it. Or perhaps, our enemies prevented anyone from investing in or claiming it, extorting or bullying anyone who wished to do so.”

It was true. Their enemies were both Greek and Norse. Perhaps all it took was a word from them to get a few of their ‘allies’ to back off.

Nessa nodded. “You might be right, and I agree that defense needs to be the focus; however, I believe that only defending would be a mistake. We had chosen to send our elites to Bramvalen, and so we should go for a bigger impact that turns the tide more, taking advantage of their superior strength. It may shave off months from the overall conflict, and prevent the most deaths.”

They had sent some of their best leaders to other worlds, but their elites were not only those that led. Elite also meant their focus on leveling, skills in fighting, and impact made through Blood and Valtor’s scoring system were just higher than the rest. Their highest-impact warriors and veterans were on Bramvalen, aside from their leaders.

Jake noted one of the meters, pointing to it. “Currently, we’re limited by the queue to enter the world, so reinforcements will be natural over time. We could rely on this, and push for reclaiming the lost city, where the Greater Rift is forming. If you look, the native kingdom has pushed to reclaim some lost ground. It looks like they were forced to retreat, but we could use what they won.”

Nessa had an idea. “Or, we could work together with them. They are of Norse Origin, right? If that’s the case, I may have someone that could convince them to work together.”

Jake snorted as he thought of whom she had in mind. “Astalder, really? Are you sure he won’t get them siding with the enemy instead?”

Nessa laughed. “His wives keep him on the straight and narrow! These people value strength, and Astalder is an experienced, respectable warrior now. He can stir up their warrior spirits, and for that matter, Yiming and Longwei are there too, right? We should use them for this too.”

Blood chuckled. “I’d count on Yiming more than the other two combined without their wives, I suppose, but sometimes the simple-minded are impressed by their mere size and muscles...”

Berri frowned. “Hey, just what are you trying to say, Sister?”

“Oh? Did you resemble that remark in some way?”

Berri pouted, and Jake cleared his throat. “So I think that’s a strong path–I like going on the offensive with our elites. We leave the Elysians on defense until we get our best defenses up by spending CP, but the rest head out and make an impact. If you can get the Nords to join the Framework and follow our direction, then even better. What do we think about Morvalis?”

The deathly world and their forces were displayed on the map. With betrayers already on the world and them hampering efforts to close Rifts, the world had been on the losing end–just not as bad as Bramvalen, at 43%.

Blood hummed. “I think it’s a little early in the Conflict to tell the best actions, as Rookard and Morwen just arrived and they started investigating the betrayers. Thankfully, the nethril beastkin seem to have a lead of sorts, but I think we have the easiest, most powerful move thanks to our lovely dragon-sister.”

Fhesiah looked up from her work, and smiled at Blood. “Aw, Blood, you’re so sweet; I knew you’d come around. Did you want to visit my dungeon, where I have many fun–”

Blood interrupted, “The tokens, my dear sister. The betrayers are asking for army positions and assistance with evading detection. Why don’t we offer…a little more assistance?”

Nessa smiled at that, and Jake nodded and said, “Definitely the right move; I like it. Luring them into a trap also means the Emberborn will have more success in capturing the betrayers. It seems they have some unwilling undead and living captives alike, which makes it more challenging to defeat only the betrayers without putting them at risk, let alone capture them otherwise.”

Nessa nodded. “Morwen is confident with your Array Flags that they can overpower their control of the undead captives with their superiority in magic and control, but if we have an advantage, I don’t see why we shouldn’t take it in order to bring them to justice. That said, there’s also the issue of convincing the natives to allow our use of the Array Flags.”

Blood brought up the report from Morwen. “It seems that they worship death as a sort of Divine entity, calling it Mortem–but no such entity actually exists. They are a theocratic government, ruled by their priests, and redirecting the energy from the monoliths would be an affront to their Divine, such as it is. They refused to allow us to redirect the mana, and also humbly requested us to not establish any shrines on their world for other divine.”

It was something that they couldn’t actually stop The Alliance from doing. Shrines were typically located within the cities near the Alliance HQ for recruitment purposes. But if the natives were hostile toward the shrines, they could simply be an add-on within the HQ.

Jake groaned. “This again? It's like the grand temples all over again. Are we sure they don’t want us diverting the death energy because they’re working with the betrayers?”

Nessa replied, “Could be, but we haven’t heard anything from the tokens as of yet. We could…try sweetening the pot. Promise them benefits, like magical technology that improves their monoliths, for example, or luxury items. While sometimes these people espouse religious beliefs, many do have a price.”

Blood hummed. “It’d be worth it, but enabling their belief could backfire, as even after we’ve claimed the world, we still have to deal with them. I’d much prefer we erode their silly, shortsighted beliefs, and convert them to the truth over time. Let’s appeal to their vanity first, as it’ll be easier to crumble the people’s trust in their government.”

Jake frowned. “Convert them to the truth? And what would that be?”

Blood’s eyes gleamed and her voice sharpened, fervor blazing in her tone as she met his eyes and answered, “That you are the True Sovereign–the one the stars themselves will bend for. That the divine of Hestia’s Alliance are the only other voices worth kneeling to, aside from yours. Their foolish leaders are dust; their god is a corpse that never lived. Your Hearthtribe is the fire that will burn away their ignorance, the hand that will raise them from the mire of death and destruction. In the end, they will witness who saved this world and the one worthy of ruling it… and they will thank us for it,” she whispered reverently.

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Nessa blushed at this. “W-Wow. You really believe every word of that…”

Jake felt a little unnerved by her zealotry, because she had left some words unsaid, but had thought–or else. He still enjoyed the intense devotion he felt from her, traveling over their bond. While Sati also had a similar level of devotion or belief in him, there was at least a part of it rooted in her serving of the Dharma, the cosmic law and balance through him. For Blood, she’d be just as happy if Jake decided to become a villainous emperor who ruled with an iron fist.

At the very least, he knew that however she achieved her personal goal of making them witness that he was the true sovereign, or else, she would always do it in a way that he would be okay with morally. So it was probably fine? He was sure that Nessa would keep her in check, now that he thought of it…

He cleared his throat, and then brought up the map of Serthune. “Alright. So how about Serthune? To me, this one is also a bit early to decide anything significant; the information is still coming in as our people scout, and we meet with the natives. And so far, Faye hasn’t heard anything from the tokens, so there may not be any kind of sabotage or betrayal situations going on as of yet. This world appeared to have only been struggling a bit compared to other worlds, because of a silly reason, and now, we’ve learned that they have invaders that target the natives.”

Nessa sighed. “I wouldn’t exactly call it silly, but it’s close: adventurers hate caves. They’re difficult to traverse, visibility is low, Tartarus often picks difficult-to-deal-with monsters that live in it, and it takes nearly three times the amount of time to travel the same distance as above ground. I’ve met a handful of Norse warriors that died several times to some ambushes or cave collapses, or a flood, and I wouldn’t call them cowards, exactly, for not wanting to give it another go. In some cases, the natives are just the best-equipped for the terrain or magical geography.”

Blood nodded. “I can see that–imagine an entire world like the wind continent? Many adventurers we’ve met would be terrible at assisting, having no means of flight of their own. Even if they have blimps like our people, they’d be dead if they failed. Of note on Serthune, Tartarus chose to bring their own race of invaders in this case. The beastly, stone, and gem-eating insectoids are like a natural predator of the natives in the caves, and the gem people can hardly fight back. But I think we’ve already made the best possible choice for our success, and Vesuvius and the reptilian beastkin can find a path to victory, reinforcing the natives and winning their hearts over in the process.”

Nessa grinned at that. “It’s so cute! The princess, or rather, Queen Lissandra, is a bit smitten with Vesuvius! It seemed she convinced all her remaining soldiers to join the Framework, and many of the civilians, besides. If he reclaims the Crystal Citadel, he’ll be crowned king, and many of the surrounding kingdoms just might fall in line, joining us as we push out Tartarus.”

Fhesiah pouted. “Aww, that could have been Jakey! A princess, Jake, a princess! We really missed out.”

Jake smiled, ignoring Fhesiah’s tirade–she was at least half-kidding, considering if they hadn’t landed on The Burning Steps, millions would have died instead. “This is another advantage to having some diversity among our forces. Other guilds would have had to leave these people to their fate, just hoping someone else with the right skillset to handle caves would show up and save them. Or, just not care about the natives in the first place, I suppose.”

Nessa nodded. “That’s the unfortunate truth. Most of those who put their resources on the line are doing it for their god or goddess, or they are mercenaries and want something in return, a benefit greater than rescuing someplace else. Many only treat those with the same Origin as worthy of their efforts. Of course, that’s not all Alliance guilds or adventurers, but…it’s enough of them, especially here in a Frontier Sector.”

Jake frowned. “Why is that? Is it just because of this monolithic Origin thing for what would be like their team or guild build, or is there more to it that you can say?”

Nessa retracted her mental connection for a moment, and thought about what she might be able to share. It seemed she came up with a means of finding the answer on their own. “I think you’ve already learned about resonance, and affinity with the divine. Hestia and Odin’s Pantheon, the Aegis Accord, allow shrines from all divine in their pantheon, on the worlds they conquer. How do you think the result contrasts with those that don’t do this?”

Blood smiled. “Valtor and Amara have done extensive research on this topic, and have actually provided some numbers on it from several worlds under our ownership. If this is the topic, I believe I understand what you are getting at, Nessa. To start, we know that Highlands has a strong Celtic Origin, perhaps the strongest a world can even have. But not all their people completely resonate with the world, or their own Divine–this was why many had difficulty awakening their auril. And, many that do resonate with the Celtic Divine also resonate with others. An example being that a high percentage of those that resonate with Brigid, also resonate with Hestia.”

Jake nodded. “I’ve seen these numbers. And this goes all the way down to the followers or those that worship the divine, and the generation of faith and ultimately divine energy. Based on what Amara and Valtor have found, the Aegis Accord benefits by capturing more followers and clergy and faith energy in total, on a worldly basis. However, on an individual level, the divine get significantly less. The numbers vary quite a bit across these worlds, but Highlands would give up something like twenty percent of their total potential clergy–those who highly resonate with their divine, if they kept to only one Origin, the Celtic Pantheon.”

He continued, “And…it becomes more dramatic when it’s just a single Divine. Out of a thousand beastkin on Highlands, if Brigid was the only Divine, she may only get up to 40 or 50 clergy and at most 200 followers. By shifting the culture over the generations, she may be able to increase this, perhaps. But on Highlands with the Aegis Accord, she may only receive up to 10 clergy and about 50 followers per thousand–only the most devout and most highly resonant choosing her over another. On Highlands now with the Aegis Accord, we are closer to a hundred clergy and 500 followers per thousand throughout the pantheon, more than doubling the total faith captured. It’s clear that each Divine gains much less, nearly a quarter or a fifth of what they would have otherwise. I can see why many Divine do not desire this.”

Blood added, “So coming back to Nessa’s hint… The reason the divine only focus on rescuing worlds that share their Origin is this resonance. Their efforts are that much more likely to be worthwhile, by gathering more clergy and worshipers and thus faith energy as a result of their victory. More recruits, more followers…it’s mercenary through and through. Is that what you were hinting at, Nessa?”

Nessa smiled. “That’s right. There’s actually more than just that, but… one thing I can just mention, is that things are a bit different outside of Frontier Sectors. For a Divine to send forces into this Sector, they pay a significant price and take several risks to become a contender for the prize or prizes. Even without considering a Divine’s ego and motivations, it makes sense for them to be a bit conscious about making sure their investment, or sacrifices, pays off.”

It was a topic they couldn’t yet learn more about, but Jake frowned. “It’s a shame. For me, it feels all too obvious why the Alliance is losing this war, and that something needs to change. This mercenary behavior hurts our chances of victory, and hurts the people who can’t stand up to this enemy on their own. Without Alliance help, something like less than twenty percent of Tier 1 and Tier 2 worlds can find victory. Luckily, it goes up at Tier 3 and Tier 4 to be quite a bit higher thanks to their rich history and resources, but Tartarus is just too good at finding weaknesses and exploiting them.”

From what Jake understood, higher-Tier worlds just had better access to magical technology and had a rich history thanks to numerous advantages of having higher-Tier beings. Being long-lived and having access to various resources, they could perfect techniques far beyond those of Tier 1 or 2 worlds, and in a way, their family had already witnessed the difference.

On Aetheris. They were only barely touching the border of the Second and Third Tier in that special purple haze of Aether, but it was clear that their understanding and preparation for combat was far beyond anything else by a significant margin. Their giant castles, array technology, and understanding of combat were just that much more than other worlds they had seen. With many people like Old Man Xuan teaching and training the next generations or accomplishing research, it was easy to see how their efforts would excel over mere Tier 2 worlds.

Blood added, “And those statistics are without even considering collusion and betrayal. It takes true heroes to move the needle even a little bit in the other direction, and yet we have villains being the ones who gain. Disgusting.”

Nessa gave a small, hopeful smile. “Heroes like us, right? Here’s hoping that our victory does offer some changes, and moves the needle, altering the status quo. Reducing the betrayals here in this Frontier Sector would make a big difference, far beyond just winning this one world.”

Jake smiled at that. “You’re right. Let’s hope for some good news. I know we can count on Hestia, Tyr, and the rest of the Aegis Accord to get the most out of our win, and the evidence we’ve painstakingly collected. Back to the original topic, I think we only had one more world left to talk about besides The Burning Steps itself, and it was one I was excited about.”

Fhesiah groaned in the background, knowing what he was excited to talk about. “You would be excited about that, wouldn’t you, Jake? It’s a shame the poor snake girls on Serthune didn’t have a unique energy type–you’d have been en route in a heartbeat.”

Berri pouted at Jake. “That’s not true, is it, Jakey? That’s a bad, bad, mindset! We can get all the magic energy thingies from the dungeon, giving people different magic types to your heart’s content. We can’t just make people snake girls–wait…” Her eyes widened. “Could we? Is it that simple?”

Blood ran her hand down her face, groaning. “We cannot force people to become snake girls, Sister, even if we found a way to turn them into one.”

A mental conversation started with Fhesiah and Berri about this topic, which Jake found ominous, but Nessa cleared her throat. “Our scouts on Haldrith, its name meaning the old realm, have reported back. They have found some useful information that wasn’t available in the dossier provided by the Sector Council. The unique energy type is a special form or state of mana that the Alliance is calling [Terrana], but the natives call it Solma.”

Jake had read that already. “Why would they do that? Isn’t that confusing?”

Nessa laughed. “It is confusing, but the reason is pretty sound: the natives likely lack understanding. These natives believe this Solma is the soul or spirit of items or the world, but really, it’s a non-sentient energy that is a form or state of mana that gathers across naturally formed leylines. It’s a grounding, terrestrial energy, and the natives anchor themselves to this power by building towers over them, absorbing and storing the energy. The Myrkin research and nearly worship the energy, placing it into items and anchoring themselves to them like familiars. There’s also news that there may or may not be some other special energy flowing within the world, that the natives don’t understand. Not even the wizards in their towers.”

The report Jake read included some pretty interesting information for him about the world and its people. In many ways, it sounded a lot like the Mystic Expanse, in that it had a lot of magical phenomena. The race most present throughout the world was a physically weak race called the Myrkin, who were small, fae-like people that reminded Jake of…perhaps slightly furry gnomes.

There were a few other races in the world, but it did seem they were relatively insular. Only the Myrkin had what was truly considered a society with their clustered towers; the others were a lot closer to a bunch of barely sapient golems and tree or bone people that absorbed this Terrana energy and became more.

The monsters throughout the world sounded rather dangerous and chaotic, just like the magical phenomena that occurred. The towers were constructed to defend against these creatures, as the little wizard people would get gobbled up in a heartbeat outside of their towers.

In all, Jake hoped that they could win the war on The Burning Steps and the others, to allow them to participate in all the Conquests available at their Tier before the War Trial. In his mind, letting Tartarus win any number of worlds was not something he was willing to accept without doing his best, and he knew his guild members all felt the same way, and so did his goddess. He wouldn’t leave it to these infighting, mercenary guilds and so on to rescue these worlds.

Jake asked, “Why do you think this world doesn’t have much interest to win it over? To me, it seems to have a lot of potential allies. Wizards and powerful constructs, unique energy and resources from their magical phenomena… I don’t think we can measure the value of those things in mere Credits or CP.”

Nessa replied, “I think it’s still a little early. Some guilds may still be gathering information, and seeing if they can make the push for ownership. But I think it’s mostly the Origin thing. There is no dominant Origin on Haldrith. Actually, what we’re reading is that there are more Earth guilds–your home world–interested because of this.”

Jake was a bit surprised by this. “Earth guilds? I suppose some are reaching this level now, as we have a lot of them in our Subguilds. Odin’s plan was pretty interesting, in that he really spread out these millions of recruits throughout the Multiverse. Any guess what his plan is?”

Nessa replied, “I can only guess. I think his goal is probably to have them build ties and come back with experience and allies in the last stage of the War Trial to help decide the fate of this Sector. Some stayed here to help, but most had to leave because they couldn’t stay here and progress meaningfully. The queues for Conquest to even enter other worlds would have filled to where they would sit and wait in stasis, or in their Refuges if they had them, for weeks or months before they could get in to do anything.”

Jake chuckled at that, thinking about various MMO’s and launch days. He remembered numerous times when he waited in line for hours just to enter a game server. Then he had to compete with a swarm of people waiting for spawns just to kill ten rabbits or kobolds or whatever other beginner quest he needed to defeat, taking hours to complete what should have taken five minutes.

Imagining former MMO players and people from Earth doing that but on a world like Ariminum swarming Rifts felt a little comical to him, remembering his experience working with the natives. It would be chaos.

Blood added, “Their only other option would be the Dungeon, and we know how many avoid that like the plague. I don’t think I like the idea of pushing so many new adventurers in that direction.”

Jake said, “I do think the dungeon is an underutilized resource, but I’m mostly in agreement unless they’re sending in people with the right training and skill sets. Moving on, that brings us to the last topic: The Burning Steps.”

He brought up the map, and overall, things were already looking pretty good. Rifts were being closed frequently thanks to the Ravenwolves and their numerous guild allies, equalizing any losses from the chaotic storm on the wind continent or the earthquakes from the Aspects on the earth continent.

Blood smiled proudly at the map. “With Radiant Glory and Obsidian Blades defeated and the Fortress Assault closed, it’s only the sparse allies of theirs that may interfere with our activities here, and they are not a challenge. We have a Greater Rift to close, and we are still waiting to hear back from Timone and Dahlia’s team in the dungeon. In all, we have the Conquest in the bag, barring some…crazy Dungeon Raid like the last one.” She shivered, remembering the crazy, cheating, eldritch entity in that final battle, and how it came after Jake after the battle was won.

Nessa said, “I think we’re limited in what kind of decisions we can make until we hear back from Father’s investigation. Whether we push really hard until we reach the Dungeon Raid, or even leave this world to help another, we won’t know what options are available.” 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Jake nodded. “For now, I want us to build up our relationships with the Grand Temples, and help the people of The Burning Steps rebuild as we close the closest Rifts to civilization. I think we made a big impact on all three continents and their perception of our guild and people, which is great. Winning over the natives before we take ownership of the world from the Framework’s perspective is important for the future.”

Fhesiah smiled. “Sati’s got the fire temple on our side, that’s for sure. With any luck, this breath of the world will tell them to join us. Or maybe we can just make it talk to them? I’ll go in there with my illusion, and then–”

Nessa wasn’t a fan of that plan. “Manipulation might be going a little too far, don’t you think? Those elves might be a little haughty, but I think they have not only been humbled, but they’ve suffered enough. We saved Cloudhaven, but thousands had died over the months from the chaotic storms and Rifts, and many of their homes and entire islands were destroyed and wiped off the map.”

Fhesiah pouted. “I was just playing, and you know that’s the truth. Sometimes I’m just a bit frustrated at how difficult it is to change these people’s minds; it’s like slamming our heads up against a wall, and we’re just trying to help, but they refuse to help themselves.”

Blood replied, “I’m sure we can help them all see reason. They did witness Ophelia summoning Guan Yu, and saving their thousands of people from their betrayal in Cloudhaven. If we win over their temples, the civilians will soon follow. And Berri does have a pretty good lead on helping us win over the earth temple.”

Berri nodded fervently. “That’s right! I can get Garona in our guild, and then they’ll all have to join! It’s brilliant. Also, Faye-Faye and Jake’s font thingy on her back became some sort of religious artifact, so we can just bribe them that way. Tanda is already growing her some special gem lettuce; I can just use my Knight ability and invite her to the Framework and bribe her.”

Nessa frowned. “I’m…not sure how much I like that either, but as long as you don’t trick her, I’m okay with it. Beasts can join the Framework; it’s a part of most beast and monster tamer abilities.”

Jake chuckled as he had a thought. “As for Garona’s troll worshipers, I do think they’ll have a slightly different tune after they witnessed Bloodberri cleaving that mountain fortress in half. They got to see Echidna herself descend, didn’t they? Those that witnessed Hestia when we arrived on Highlands were that much more likely to become one of her clergy or followers, according to Valtor.”

Berri put her hands on her hips, smiling proudly as she nodded, and then mimed herself cleaving the mountain in half. “That’s right! We were pretty great, weren’t we? I kinda forgot that part, after the…scary monk guy. When that guy showed up, it was like it ruined everything, or like nothing else mattered.”

Jake shook his head. “I get what you mean, but you claiming victory and how fast you did mattered a lot, and your victory was impressive. You did great, Bloodberri.”

Berri rushed over to him over the table, and kissed him on the cheek as she hugged him tightly with her large body. “Yay! Thanks, Jakey. So, what now? Are we done with the boring part yet? We need to try the new breeding move, and then there’s our new crafting stuffs, and then–”

Fhesiah interrupted, “Oh yes, I am very much looking forward to the breeding move. And Nessa and Sati can soon become Hearthians, and maybe even Ava! That’s exciting.”

Jake chuckled. “You’re right, I am looking forward to all of that, of course. But right now, it’s time for us to do some work. Let’s go close some Rifts while we wait to hear back from Hestia and Tyr. It shouldn’t be too long now before we hear back from them.”